Yogananda takes on Karma of His devotees

From “I became my heart: Stories of a disciple of Yogananda” by Leo Cocks

Leo Cocks and Paramahansa Yogananda

Leo Cocks, a monastic disciple of Yogananda said:

One time after the last Kriya ceremony in 1951, I went up to Master’s room to see him. It was the first and only time I ever saw him in bed. He had his legs stretched out. There was a chair by the bed and I sat there. Part of the time we were talking–or rather, he was talking and I was listening. Actually, I
would think thoughts and he would answer those!
I thought: “What’s the problem? What’s wrong?”
And he said: “It’s my legs.” And then he said: “This is because of the last Kriya.”
I knew he had taken on the karma of others at the Kriya Initiation. There were so many people at the ceremony that people covered the first floor from the chapel all the way back into the book room and into the foyer.
And I was thinking: “What is it like?” (to have taken all that karma.)
He answered my thought and said: “The pain is like a saw going through my leg. What Jesus suffered on the cross for hours, I’ve suffered for months in my legs.”
Then he said, “Divine Mother told me not to give the last Kriya ceremony.”
Maybe she realized that all of that extra karma Master had taken would mean a great deal of suffering.
And then Master said: “I know you all wanted it so bad, I decided I would give it anyway.”